First on the Scene

If you've ever called 911 during an emergency, you know:brseconds can feel like minutes and minutes like hours. When time is of thebressence, Southlake's critical response teams do everything they can to be onbrthe scene immediately — and their efforts are about to get a big boost.

This November, Southlake's new $16.6brmillion DPS North opens after 16 months of construction. In addition to classrooms,bra firing range and a clinic, the 37,000-square-foot facility, located at 100 E.brDove St., will host a fire ladder company with four firefighters on each shiftbrto cover the north end of Southlake. It is expected to cut emergency responsebrtimes to north Southlake by several minutes.

“Currently, our response times arebrabout ten minutes to north Southlake,” says Fire Chief Michael Starr. “We'rebrlooking at reducing our response times once that facility opens to about fourbror five minutes.”

Starr notes that those few minutesbrcan make the difference between life and death. During cardiac arrest, brainbrdeath occurs between four and six minutes. “It's critical. The sooner we canbrget there, the better chance for survival,” he says.

When it comes to fires, flashover —brwhen objects inside a room are heated to the point of spontaneously combustingbr— can occur as early as three-to-four minutes after a fire has started. Oncebrflashover occurs, the chances of survival for firefighters and civilians arebrslim to none.

Currently, customers in northbrSouthlake are served by the fire department headquarters on 600 State St. Abrsecond fire company is housed in west Southlake. The city had planned for threebrfire stations, ultimately approving construction on DPS North in May 2010. Thebrfacility was funded by the Crime Prevention and Control District, a half-centbrsales tax on purchases made in Southlake.

Police Chief Stephen Mylett saysbrthe decrease in response times could have a benefit to Southlake citizens in abrreduction of homeowner's insurance costs.

“Adding that station is giving usbran opportunity to go through another ISO evaluation in anticipation of loweringbrthe insurance ratings for all the citizens of Southlake,” he says. “The currentbrrating is a four, but we're projecting to be rated at a two — which will bringbrinsurance savings for our citizens.”

However, local All State insurancebragent, Mark Jameson, warns that the reduction could be negligible. “There wouldbrbe a slight difference, but not every citizen would realize that decline,” hebrsays. “It's difficult to predict as there are so many variables that anbrinsurance company uses to determine ratings.”

In addition to its emergencybrresponse facilities, DPS North will also house a regional training facility,brexpected to draw first responders from around the region.

The one-story main building will house three trainingbrclassrooms and a large auditorium. Another building will house an undergroundbrfiring range with 25-yard ranges for pistols, 50-yard ranges for rifles and thebrability to pull in a vehicle police officers can train in real-life scenariosbrlike shooting from cover.

According to Mylett, the opening ofbrDPS North ensures law enforcement officers in Southlake will receive the bestbrtraining available.

“The training facility will allowbrus to attract and host quality training programs which will not only benefitbrour employees but our regional law enforcement partners as well,” he says. “Thebrlarge classrooms and high capacity auditorium will provide us opportunities tobrtrain our officers and civilian staff as never before. The firearms range is abrstate-of-the-art facility that will allow us to develop innovative trainingbrwhich will depict realistic live scenarios.”

Currently, Southlake law andbremergency response officers must travel outside of the city to train, whichbrreduces the resources available to citizens and costs money.

“We're hoping to make this facilitybra regional training center and bring those classes to Southlake and keep ourbrpersonnel within our city and available,” Starr says. Mylett adds, “Currently,brwe are dependent on other agencies to provide range time for our officers andbrthat time comes with a financial cost.”

With the best classes and amenitiesbravailable for training officers, DPS North will likely become a hub forbrtraining in the region, increasing revenue and offsetting some of the cost.

“Being able to bring those classesbrhere should save us some money, if not enhance revenue, instead of sendingbrpeople out of the city,” Starr says.

The operating cost of the facility is expectedbrto be about $200,000 with an additional $1 million to be paid in salaries annually.brTwelve people will staff the fire station, which will bring the number ofbrfirefighters in Southlake to 63.